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Dora Zhang

Editor covering China's business and technology, focused on AI, electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and robotics, tracking industry developments, innovation, and market dynamics.

Li Auto’s Live Teardown Gamble: Three Months of Sales Declines Expose Cracks in Its EV Strategy

Li Auto is dismantling vehicles on camera to prove its worth — a dramatic signal that China's once-fastest-growing premium EV brand is fighting to reclaim consumer confidence as its sales advantage erodes and its full-year target slips further out of reach. On August 4, 2026, Li

CXMT Rejects Apple's Discount Demand, Signaling a Chip Supply Shift

Apple's attempt to use ChangXin Memory Technology as a price-leverage tool against Samsung and SK Hynix has backfired — the Chinese DRAM maker refused to undercut Korean rivals, exposing how the AI-driven memory supercycle has stripped the iPhone maker of its legendary supply-chain dominance. The rejection,

Meituan's RMB 400M Bet on Unitree Delivers 10x Return as Robot Maker Launches IPO

Meituan's early-stage wager on humanoid robotics is crystallizing into one of China's most lucrative venture positions of 2026, with a RMB 400 million (US$55.6 million) stake in Unitree Robotics now carrying a paper value exceeding RMB 4 billion (US$555.6 million) — and

ChinaBiz Briefing | DeepSeek's $69B Round, Leapmotor's 100K Milestone, and the Cost-Curve Economy

China's technology and mobility sectors delivered a unified message on August 5: scale and cost discipline now define competitive advantage more decisively than brand narrative or first-mover positioning. From DeepSeek relaunching a mega-round at a $69 billion valuation to Leapmotor rewriting the EV startup hierarchy, and

China's Exoskeleton Robot Market Hits RMB 1.6B as Consumer Demand Takes Over

IDC's first unified market report reveals a structural split: medical rehabilitation captures 88% of revenue while consumer-assist devices drive 73% of unit shipments — a divergence that forces investors and manufacturers to rethink where value is actually created. International Data Corporation (IDC) on August 4, 2026 released its

How Trip.com Came to Control 70% of China's Online Hotel Market

What Is This About? One company controls approximately 70% of China's online hotel booking market by gross merchandise value. Trip.com Group — through its own platform, its controlled subsidiary Qunar, and its largest-shareholder stake in Tongcheng Travel — holds a level of market concentration that is rare even

Pony.ai Enters Autonomous Truck Mass Production, Leveraging Robotaxi DNA

Pony.ai disclosed on August 3 that its fourth-generation L4-level fully autonomous battery-electric heavy truck has entered mass production, while its first-generation L4-level autonomous light truck is advancing toward commercial deployment in parallel. The announcement, made at the company's 2026 Pony Truck Communications

The Leapmotor Moment: How Scale and Cost Are Reshaping China’s EV War

Leapmotor delivered 101,267 vehicles in July 2026, becoming the first Chinese new-energy vehicle startup in the industry's 12-year history to breach the 100,000-unit monthly threshold—a milestone that simultaneously renders the old "NIO-Xpeng-Li" power hierarchy obsolete. The July figure,

China's Automakers Launch Branded Batteries, Reshaping EV Supply Chain Beyond CATL's Shadow

Xiaomi, Li Auto and Huawei's Aito are deploying proprietary battery systems with full-stack process control, directly challenging the "Intel Inside" dominance of Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and forcing second-tier cell makers into an ODM-style subordinate role. The shift crystallized on July 30, 2026,

DeepSeek Relaunches Second Funding Round at RMB 500B Pre-Money Valuation

DeepSeek, the Chinese AI large language model startup that has drawn intense investor interest, has quietly resumed its second round of external fundraising after a brief suspension, according to an exclusive report by a leading Chinese financial publication. The development underscores the accelerating pace of capital formation around China'